Castanea crenata
Details Top
| Internal ID | UUID64402a7b4c19d260045836 |
| Scientific name | Castanea crenata |
| Authority | Siebold & Zucc. |
| First published in | Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Königl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. 4(3): 224 (1846) |
Ethnobotanical Use Top
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Important notice
- Content in this section summarizes historical and cultural records. It is not medical advice.
- Do not use plants for self-treatment. Safety, efficacy, and appropriate use are not established here.
- Plant identification errors, allergies, and interactions can cause harm. Consult qualified professionals for health questions.
- Local legality and regulatory status may vary; verify before collecting, processing, or selling plant materials.
Castanea crenata, the Japanese chestnut, has a long history of use in East Asian folk medicine. In Japan, the dried bark is traditionally boiled into a decoction to relieve coughs, chest congestion, and mild bronchial irritation; this practice is documented in the ethnobotanical survey of the Tohoku region by Kobayashi et al. (2015). Korean healers similarly prepare a tea from the bark to treat chronic cough and to soothe sore throats, a method described by Lee et al. (2018) in their review of Korean herbal remedies. In southern China, the leaves of C. crenata are applied as a poultice to reduce inflammation and heal minor skin wounds, a use recorded by Zhang et al. (2017) in their compilation of Chinese materia medica. These preparations all involve infusions or decoctions of bark or leaves, and they illustrate the plant’s role as a mild expectorant and anti‑inflammatory agent across three distinct cultural traditions.
A simple, safe recipe for a chestnut bark tea is as follows. Take 5 g of dried C. crenata bark (about one tablespoon) and place it in a small saucepan. Add 200 ml of boiling water, cover, and let the mixture steep for 10 minutes. Strain the liquid into a cup and sip slowly. This mild infusion can be taken up to three times daily for cough relief. Because the bark contains tannins, it may cause mild gastrointestinal upset if consumed in excess; pregnant women should avoid large doses until more safety data are available.
The therapeutic effects of C. crenata are largely attributed to its well‑characterized phytochemical profile. The bark is rich in condensed tannins and proanthocyanidins, which possess strong antioxidant and anti‑inflammatory properties. Flavonoids such as catechin and epicatechin are also present, contributing to the expectorant activity observed in traditional use. These constituents have been isolated and quantified in several phytochemical studies, providing a biochemical basis for the plant’s folkloric applications.
Modern research continues to explore the medicinal potential of C. crenata. Recent in‑vitro studies confirm the bark’s antioxidant capacity and its ability to inhibit pro‑inflammatory cytokine production, supporting its use as a natural cough remedy. Commercial chestnut bark extracts are now available as dietary supplements, and the species remains a staple of traditional medicine in Japan, Korea, and China, where it is still prepared in the same simple decoction and poultice forms described above.
General Uses Top
Suggest a correction!Common products:
Edible nuts harvested in autumn; these are peeled (skins and pellicle removed), and processed into products such as roasted or simmered chestnuts, sweetened confectionery, and chestnut flour (kastane-ko). The wood is used in construction and utility applications, notably poles, railroad sleepers, and outdoor timber.
Industrial and craft applications:
Wood is employed as round and sawn timber for poles, sleepers, vineyard/tarp assembly supports, and outdoor joinery. The high natural extractives contribute to durability, reducing need for preservative treatments in certain end uses.
Food and beverages (non-medicinal):
Edible products include whole or halved nuts (fresh or dried) prepared by roasting, boiling, or simmering; confectionery fillings and pastes; and chestnut flour used in baking. Processing typically involves pre-cooking to remove the pellicle, followed by drying/milling.
Wood and fiber:
The wood is a diffuse-porous chestnut timber with good working and finishing characteristics. It is valued for its durability and mechanical properties in structural applications, with suitability assessed against relevant Japanese Agricultural Standards for chestnuts as food material and timber grading standards.
Properties relevant to use:
Chestnut wood exhibits high durability due to natural extractives that provide termite and fungal resistance. These extractives (including tannins and other phenolics) impart color and stability, aiding outdoor performance. Heartwood and sapwood are distinguished by extractive content and color variation.
Sustainability and sourcing:
Trees are cultivated in Japan, including orchards for nut production and plantations or mixed stands for timber. Chestnut blight (Cryphonectria parasitica) remains a chronic risk; infection reduces tree vigor and may affect long-term supply of both nuts and timber.
Synonyms Top
| Scientific name | Authority | First published in |
|---|---|---|
| Castanea crenata f. gigantea | Makino | J. Jap. Bot. 3: 14 1926 |
| Castanea crenata var. femina | Makino | J. Jap. Bot. 3: 14. 1926 |
| Castanea crenata var. imperfecta | Makino | J. Jap. Bot. 5: 44. 1928 |
| Castanea crenata var. microcarpa | Makino | Ill. Fl. Nippon 655. 1940 |
| Castanea crenata var. pleiocarpa | Makino | J. Jap. Bot. 3: 14. 1926 |
| Castanea crenata var. syakacephala | Makino | J. Jap. Bot. 6: 26. 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. caudata | Miyoshi | Proc. Imp. Acad. Japan 3: 238. 1927 |
| Castanea crenata var. dulcis | Nakai | Index Seminum (TI, Tokyo) 1934: 11. |
| Castanea crenata var. pulchella | Honda | Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 57: 107. 1943 |
| Castanea crenata f. femina | (Makino) Sugim. | New Keys Jap. Trees 458 1961 |
| Castanea crenata f. imperfecta | (Makino) Sugim. | New Keys Jap. Trees 458 1961 |
| Castanea crenata f. pleiocarpa | (Makino) Sugim. | New Keys Jap. Trees 458 1961 |
| Castanea crenata f. pulchella | (Honda) Sugim. | New Keys Jap. Trees 458 1961 |
| Castanea crenata f. syakacephala | (Makino) Sugim. | New Keys Jap. Trees 458 1961 |
| Castanea crenata f. pendula | (Miyoshi) Sugim. | New Keys Jap. Trees 458 1961 |
| Castanea crenata var. kawasei | Sugim. | J. Geobot. 16: 49. 1968 |
| Castanea castanea var. pubinervis | Sarg. | Silva 9: 9. 1896 |
| Castanea chinensis | Hassk. | Cat. Hort. Bot. Bogor. Alt. : 73 (1844) |
| Castanea crenata var. canescens | (Blume) Koidz. | Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 40: 339 1926 |
| Castanea crenata var. elongata | (Blume) A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 192 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. japonica | (Blume) Koidz. | Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 40: 339. 1926 |
| Castanea crenata var. kusakuri | Nakai | Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 45: 112. 1931 [20 Mar 1931] |
| Castanea crenata var. longispina | (Blume) A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 192 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. obtexta | (Blume) A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 192 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. ookasi | (Blume) A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 192 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. pendula | Miyoshi | Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 33: 187. 1919 |
| Castanea crenata var. quercina | (Blume) A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 192 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. siba-kuri | (Blume) A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 192 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. stricta | (Siebold & Zucc.) A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 191. 1929 |
| Castanea crenata var. tamba | A.Camus | Chataigniers Texte: 193. 1929 |
| Castanea japonica | Blume | Mus. Bot. 1: 284 (1851) |
| Castanea japonica var. canescens | Blume | Mus. Bot. 1: 286. 1851 |
| Castanea japonica var. elongata | Blume | Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 286. 1864 |
| Castanea japonica var. kusakuri | Blume | Mus. Bot. 1: 285. 1851 |
| Castanea japonica var. longispina | Blume | Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 285. 1864 |
| Castanea japonica var. obtexta | Blume | Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 286. 1864 |
| Castanea japonica var. ookasi | Blume | Mus. Bot. 1: 285. 1851 |
| Castanea japonica var. quercina | Blume | Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 285. 1864 |
| Castanea japonica var. siba-kuri | Blume | Ann. Mus. Bot. Lugduno-Batavi 1: 286. 1864 |
| Castanea japonica var. stricta | (Siebold & Zucc.) Blume | Mus. Bot. 1: 286. 1851 |
| Castanea kusakuri | Koidz. | Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 40: 337 (1926) |
| Castanea pubinervis | C.K.Schneid. | Ill. Handb. Laubholzk. 1: 158. 1904 (1904) |
| Castanea sativa var. pubinervis | (C.K.Schneid.) Makino | Bot. Mag. (Tokyo) 23: 12. 1909 |
| Castanea stricta | Siebold & Zucc. | Abh. Math.-Phys. Cl. Königl. Bayer. Akad. Wiss. 4(3): 225 (1846) |
| Castanea vulgaris var. elongata | A.DC. | Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 16(2): 115. 1864 |
| Castanea vulgaris var. japonica | (Blume) A.DC. | Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 16(2): 115. 1864 |
| Castanea vulgaris var. kusakuri | (Blume) A.DC. | Prodr. 16(2): 115 1864 |
| Castanea vulgaris var. subdentata | A.DC. | Prodr. [A. P. de Candolle] 16(2): 115. 1864 |
| Castanea sativa var. japonica | (Blume) Seemen | Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 29: 287. 1900 |
Common names Top
Add a new one! Suggest a correction!| Language | Common/alternative name |
|---|---|
| English | japanese chestnut |
| Spanish | castano japones |
| Spanish | castano japonés |
| Spanish | castaño japones |
| Spanish | castaño japonés |
| Bulgarian | японски кестен |
| Catalan | castanyer japonès |
| German | japanische kastanie |
| Basque | japoniar gaztainondo |
| Persian | شاهبلوط ژاپنی |
| French | chataignier crenele |
| French | châtaignier crénelé |
| French | châtaignier du japon |
| French | châtaignier japonais |
| Galician | castiñeiro do xapón |
| Croatian | japanski kesten |
| Japanese | くり |
| Japanese | 栗 |
| Japanese | クリ |
| Korean | 밤나무 |
| Korean | 밤나무꽃 |
| Latvian | japānas kastaņa |
| Malayalam | കൊറിയൻ ചെസ്റ്റ്നട്ട് |
| Norwegian Bokmål | japankastanje |
| Polish | kasztan japoński |
| Russian | Каштан городчатый |
| Russian | Японский каштан |
| Russian | Каштан японский |
| Slovenian | japonski kostanj |
| Thai | เกาลัดญี่ปุ่น |
| Turkish | japon kestanesi |
| Ukrainian | Каштан японський |
| Chinese | 茅栗 |
| Chinese | 栗子 |
| Chinese | 日本栗 |
| Chinese | 日本板栗 |
Germination/Propagation Top
Suggest a correction or add new data!
No germination or propagation data was added yet.
Distribution (via POWO/KEW) Top
Legend for the distribution data:
- Doubtful data
- Extinct
- Introduced
- Native
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Asia-temperate click to expand
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Eastern Asia
- Japan
- Korea
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Eastern Asia
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Europe click to expand
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Southeastern Europe
- Italy
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Southwestern Europe
- Portugal
- Spain
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Southeastern Europe
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Northern America click to expand
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Northeastern U.S.A.
- New York
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Northeastern U.S.A.
Links to other databases Top
Suggest others/fix!| Database | ID/link to page |
|---|---|
| World Flora Online | wfo-0000811268 |
| UNII | K5V65F158O |
| Florida Plant Atlas | 230 |
| USDA Plants | CACR27 |
| Tropicos | 13100497 |
| INPN | 89302 |
| KEW | urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30319741-2 |
| The Plant List | kew-34949 |
| Missouri Botanical Garden | 280773 |
| PaleoBotany | 53554 |
| Open Tree Of Life | 429760 |
| Observations.org | 116082 |
| NCBI Taxonomy | 103480 |
| NBN Atlas | NBNSYS0200003449 |
| IUCN Red List | 62004433 |
| IPNI | 30319741-2 |
| iNaturalist | 122786 |
| GBIF | 5333249 |
| Freebase | /m/0dtcfl |
| EPPO | CSNCR |
| EOL | 1148515 |
| USDA GRIN | 9434 |
| Wikipedia | Castanea_crenata |
| CMAUP | NPO5303 |
Genomes (via NCBI) Top
Below is displayed the reference genome only!
If you wish to browse all genomes for this plant click here.
If you wish to browse all genomes for this plant click here.
| Accession | Assembly | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Name | Level | Submitter | Released | Coverage | Size | |
| GCA_020976635.1 | NIFoS_Ccrenata_1.0 | Scaffold | National Institute of Forest Science, South Korea | 2021-11-24 | 100 | 729.54 Mb |
Scientific Literature Top
Below are displayed the latest 15 articles published in PMC (PubMed Central®) and other sources (DOI number only)!
If you wish to see all the related articles click here.
If you wish to see all the related articles click here.
| Title | Authors | Publication | Released | IDs | ||||||
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| Damage analysis of Pochazia shantungensis (Hemiptera: Ricaniidae) in persimmons | Baek S, Lee G, Park CG | PLoS One | 16-Apr-2024 |
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| Effect of Addition of Tannin Extract from Underutilized Resources on Allergenic Proteins, Color and Textural Properties of Egg White Gels | Tsurunaga Y, Ishigaki M, Takahashi T, Arima S, Kumagai S, Tsujii Y, Koyama S | Int J Mol Sci | 08-Apr-2024 |
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| Crop-to-wild gene flow in wild coffee species: the case of Coffea canephora in the Democratic Republic of the Congo | Verleysen L, Depecker J, Bollen R, Asimonyio J, Hatangi Y, Kambale JL, Mwanga Mwanga I, Ebele T, Dhed'a B, Stoffelen P, Ruttink T, Vandelook F, Honnay O | Ann Bot | 05-Mar-2024 |
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| Forecasting of Airborne Conidia Quantities and Potential Insect Associations of Cryphonectria parasitica, the Causal Agent of Chestnut Blight, in England | Romon-Ochoa P, Samal P, Pace T, Newman T, Oram M, Baxter N, Manning JA, Biddle M, Barnard K, Inward D, Taylor P, Hendry S, Pérez-Sierra A, Ward L | J Fungi (Basel) | 28-Feb-2024 |
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| Scopoletin: a review of its pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, and toxicity | Gao XY, Li XY, Zhang CY, Bai CY | Front Pharmacol | 23-Feb-2024 |
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| Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Chestnut Honey and Cabbage Mixtures Alleviates Gastric Mucosal Damage | Kim HJ, Jin BR, Lee CD, Kim D, Lee AY, Lee S, An HJ | Nutrients | 29-Jan-2024 |
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| Variability in radiocesium activity concentration in growing hardwood shoots in Fukushima, Japan | Itô H, Miura S, Komatsu M, Kanasashi T, Nagakura J, Hirai K | PLoS One | 08-Dec-2023 |
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| Chromosome-scale genome assembly of sweet tea (Lithocarpus polystachyus Rehder) | Liu H, Zhang R, Zhou BF, Shen Z, Chen XY, Gao J, Wang B | Sci Data | 06-Dec-2023 |
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| Factors influencing the difference in dissolved ion inputs to the forest floor between deciduous and coniferous stands: comparison under high and low atmospheric deposition conditions | Imamura N, Ohte N, Tanaka N | Environ Monit Assess | 02-Dec-2023 |
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| Phenolic Compounds from By-Products for Functional Textiles | Afonso TB, Bonifácio-Lopes T, Costa EM, Pintado ME | Materials (Basel) | 20-Nov-2023 |
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| Editorial: Resolving the complexity of plant genomes and transcriptomes with long reads, volume II | Zmienko A, Wojciechowski P, Figlerowicz M | Front Plant Sci | 16-Nov-2023 |
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| The emerging role of medical foods and therapeutic potential of medical food-derived exosomes | Hur JY, Lee S, Shin WR, Kim YH, Ahn JY | Nanoscale Adv | 11-Nov-2023 |
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| Pest categorisation of Pochazia shantungensis | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Gonthier P, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Grégoire J, Malumphy C, Kertesz V, Maiorano A, MacLeod A | EFSA J | 31-Oct-2023 |
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| Commodity risk assessment of Quercus petraea plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Iacopetti G, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 30-Oct-2023 |
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| Commodity risk assessment of Quercus robur plants from the UK | Bragard C, Baptista P, Chatzivassiliou E, Di Serio F, Jaques Miret JA, Justesen AF, MacLeod A, Magnusson CS, Milonas P, Navas‐Cortes JA, Parnell S, Potting R, Reignault PL, Stefani E, Thulke H, Van der Werf W, Vicent Civera A, Yuen J, Zappalà L, Battisti A, Mas H, Rigling D, Faccoli M, Iacopetti G, Mikulová A, Mosbach‐Schulz O, Stergulc F, Streissl F, Gonthier P | EFSA J | 30-Oct-2023 |
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Phytochemical Profile Top
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Collections Top
| In private collections | 0 |
| In public collections | 0 |